Scorpion and Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat. Frog from Chrono Trigger. Zero from Megaman X and Megaman Zero. Sephiroth from FF7. There's probably more I can think of, but they're the ones that stand out in my mind.

 

Fall-From-Grace from Planescape: Torment.

Bellegar from Divinity 2: DKS.

Kyle Katarn from the Jedi Knight series.

Titus from Space Marine.

Wei Shen from Sleeping Dogs.

Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell (up to Chaos Theory).

Lautrec of Carim, Crestfallen Warrior, Laurentius, Siegmeyer and Hawkeye Gough from Dark Souls.

Kreia, Visas Marr, HK-47 and Atris from KOTOR 2.

Kain, Vorador and Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series.

Dan from Binary Domain.

Malik from Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Kaelyn the Dove and Okku from Neverwinter Nights 2 - Mask of the Betrayer.

There's probably way more, but this all that comes to mind at such a late hour.

 

Hmm. My first thought was George Stobbart from the Broken Sword games. The nature of the game is such that you can hear him wisecracking about anything and everything. Even though he isn't the ballsiest kind of protagonist since it's not a game involving a lot of fighting, the game concept (random everyman gets caught in a twisted world domination plot and vows to get to the bottom of it by following a trail of clues and improvising or smooth-talking his way out of every situation) makes him into a very interesting sort of adventurer.

 

Garrus: Hello... and... hm. You seem like a nice person, maybe a little quiet, introspective but... decent, overall.

Femae Turian: Oh... thank you... I think.

Shepard: Try small talk.

Garrus: Come here often? I imagine anyone who does is probably an alcoholic.

10/10

 

Garrus Vakarian, for all the reasons already stated. Also from Mass Effect, Mordin Solus. Because of his heartbreaking heroic sacrifice, and this.

The Prince and Farah from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. He's a charming, snarky, roguish but honorable acrobat, she's a feisty, duty-driven archer, and watching them fall in love with each other over the course of the game was just brilliant.

I have a soft spot for Reaver from Fable 2, due to the genuine surprise when he steals your final boss battle from you. He's a one-note, cheesy character, and he's a lot less interesting in Fable 3, but that is a genuinely great moment in gaming for me.

 

Revan from KOTOR

 

I just wanted to stop by here to say every single one of you motherfuckers are wrong, sadly, with the partial exception of Shinysavage.

Mordin Solus is the best character in video games. Full stop. Some of Bioware's best writing ever went into him, and he is a fucking amazing character. I'm on my phone, so I think I'll leave it there, but if he's not your favorite then you're just wrong.

 

Shaco. /10char

(Placeholder till I decide.)

 

Arcade Gannon or Veronica Santangelo from New Vegas, though all the New Vegas companions are on the list somewhere.

Varric Tethras in particular from Dragon Age 2, though all the non-dlc companions were great.

Pretty much every character from the .hack//GU series.

 

Some people just like to watch the world burn.

 

While this is cheaty and possibly belongs in a separate thread, Uthgerd the Unbroken from Skyrim.

In Sips' play through she ends up depicted as an alcoholic lesbian with jealousy and anger management issues who prefers a bow for melee combat.

 

QFT.

Otherwise, the general in Shogun 2, yelling, "Hidden units my lord, treacherously meant to ambush us!" I just found him so incredibly dependable. Great guy.

 

Jim Raynor from Starcraft, Mission Vex from KOTOR or Gordon Freeman from Half-Life 3.

But in all seriousness, Dogmeat is the greatest.

 

Mission Vao

 

Statement: The lack of HK-47 in this thread is a disappointment. I'm afraid the meat bags will have to be terminated.

 

As usual you fail at basic reading comprehension, Odran brought it up about 20 posts in.

 

"As usual"

What the heck are you going on about?

Either way, there has been a lack of HK-47 in this thread. Only one mention and in a list at that? A sore lacking.

 

Not enough Warcraft here so I'll go with my favourite + some honorable mentions.

Kinda cliché but my number one spot is shared by Illidan Stormrage and Arthas Menethil.

Some honorable mentions of awesome characters:


Malfurion Stormrage
Jaina Proudmoore
Grommash Hellscream
Uther the Lightbringer
Saurfang
Kel'thuzad
Danath trollbane
Medivh
Tirion Fordring

There's probably some more that I forgot that I really enjoy.

 

I'm going to throw in an honourable mention for Raziel and Kain from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Defiance - I never actually finished either game, or played any of the rest of the franchise, but what I played of Soul Reaver blew my tiny little mind in terms of gaming characterisation at the time.